22 April 2008

Exactly three months before these photos were taken, I was taken to the emergency room with a lung collapse. What followed was a rather lengthy hospital stay and a difficult healing process. The people in these photos were a GIANT part of my recovery and the day we had together at The Duke Estate was yet another reminder of why I wanted to be well again. 90 days prior they were all standing around my hospital bed (along with my parents) watching me act bizzarely on pain meds while hooked up to machines and a chest drain. Clearly, today is a different story...

Janie is perhaps the most beautiful pregnant woman I have ever seen. Three months 'til we greet her guaranteed-to-be gorgeous daughter. I'd make a typical crack about not knowing who the father is, but we all know it's Mick Jagger... or maybe her husband. I always confuse the two of them.

Steve, Myself & Scott: Snarky, Cringey & Frowny.

Steve is a highbrow cultural elitist and an all-around aesthete...

One of the few moments when I was actually ON the designated path...

I dunno, maybe I missed something during the car ride, but out of nowhere my whole crew decided they were park rangers for the day and empowered themselves with dominion over my every move. What I call "going to where the good picture is" suddenly became what Scott called "stompling on the plants as an invasive species". No word yet on whether or not "stompling" is a technical term used by those in the rarified air of Northeastern Botany.

We were welcomed through the gates and things became grand very quickly...

We saw the 100 year old two story cement basement foundation of a chateau that was never finished. Its mossy footprint looked like the Roman catacombs or the Colliseum labyrinth.

A fountain to greet guests was even constructed, though the manse was never to be.

This greenhouse comes complete with friendly sentinels. The more "historically significant" one is off-limits for now.

A walk along winding paths of reddish gravel revealed the back of a roofless hay barn which now serves as a sculpture garden.

After our exploration of this amazing vignette, we continued on to explore more of the amazing vastness whose breadth photographs cannot describe . The friendly, warm and inviting scents of springtime surrounded us at every turn.

I can't ever seem to resist an abandonment. This small prefab greenhouse was no exception.

We lost track of the number of times the sun played hide and seek with us and the number of random smatterings of daffodills we found.

It was hard to be disappointed about the fact that the main residence was closed when there was a creepy old shed (with manger-like dog house) to peer into.

One last peel before leaving the park...

And one last surprise guest who showed his face (and tail) along the reddish stone path that walked us all the way through the day.